1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus for printing output information from software applications (ex. word processors) operating on computers.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional printing systems, when printing image data (data files created by applications) saved in secondary storage devices of computers, users execute printing through the following procedure.
A description will be made, for example, to a case where Windows® is used as Operating System (OS) of computers. On this operating system, data to be printed is saved in the form of file data.
A user finds the file data to be printed and then starts the application that created the file data (for example, a word processor that is a document editing application, spreadsheet software, or the like) to open the file data to be printed.
Then, a print instruction provided as a service of the application is executed to do printing.
More specifically, a printing process in a computer is performed by starting a document editing application on a computer, performing such processing as creating a new document or opening a saved document file for editing, and then activating a printing processing function of the document editing application for performing the printing process.
Upon execution of the printing process, the document editing application invokes a printer driver through an intermediate module (GDI (Graphical Device Interface) under the OS on the computer, so that the invoked printer driver creates PDL (page description language) that can be interpreted by a controller of an image forming apparatus for doing printing.
When the user clicks on a print menu during processing on the document editing application, a user interface for print settings concerning printing appears.
Specifically, a variety of items concerning print settings, such as paper size, resolution, paper orientation, and number of copies, can be set.
Meanwhile, in recent years, in order to enhance efficiency and quality in a copy processing operation, a function of executing test printing is provided, in which when large volume printing is done, only one page is experimentally printed without doing full printing. Then, after the result of test printing is examined and whether desired quality is achieved or not is checked, and if satisfactory, then only the required amount of copy is executed. In this respect, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-095436 discloses a technique of finely adjusting print settings after test printing on an interface screen of an image forming apparatus.
On the other hand, when test printing is done, in consideration of resource saving and visibility improvement, there is a possibility of making print settings different from a preset format set as print settings for full (actual) printing. For example, 2-in-1 layout may be executed or color print may be set to monochrome print. If print settings are changed, it is necessary to reset the print settings to those in accordance with the original preset format in order to do full printing. However, it is necessary to grasp which item was changed, which is cumbersome.